Skype in the Clasroom is "an online community that enables thousands of teachers to inspire the next generation of global citizens through transformative learning over Skype." Teachers can use Skype to set up virtual field trips, to talk with a guest speaker who is an expert on a topic, to collaborate with another class on a specific project, or even to engage in Skype lessons, which are "live learning activities given by experts via Skype around a specific topic or theme." All of these learning opportunities are excellent means of helping students communicate ideas, recognize perspectives, and investigate the world. During my global education unit about the global water crisis, my students Skyped with a hand pump expert from WaterStep, a nonprofit organization located in Kentucky that is dedicated to bringing safe water, sanitation, and health education to global communities in need. Through this Skype-based activity, my students learned about how hand pumps are designed as well as how the organization helps bring clean water and sanitation to communities around the world -- all without having to leave their classroom in Illinois.
Mystery Skype
Mystery Skype is an activity students can engage in to connect with classrooms around the world. Though Mystery Skype technically falls under the umbrella of Skype in the Classroom activities, I feel that it deserved a separate post because it can be such a valuable cultural exchange and is a comprehensible activity even for young elementary students. Mystery Skype is an activity students can engage in to connect with classrooms around the world. Classes either ask one another questions, or they give one another clues to determine the location of the other class. The goal is to guess the other school's location before they can guess yours! #mysteryskype is another way to search for international classroom connections via Twitter. To help your students recognize perspectives, consider Skyping with an international partner school facing a global issue you are studying in your classroom, such as the global water crisis or deforestation. Click here for many useful materials for your next Mystery Skype, such as job cards and question stems!
Traveling Teddy
The Traveling Teddy Bear is a neat way to connect elementary classrooms from around the world! You can sign up through the website to have a bear visit your school. Sign-up usually starts in August or September and fills quickly. Similar to Flat Stanley, the bear travels all over the world visiting students in classrooms. The bear's journey can be followed on the Traveling Teddy Bear website, so you can follow your bear all year long. Twitter users can also follow the hashtag #GlobalEdTed.
Heidi & Peter: Traveling Puppets from Switzerland
Heidi and Peter are puppets that travel around the world, and classrooms that participate in the project share what they are doing via posting photos on their Facebook page. The puppets come with a picture book that teachers can read to the class as well. Heidi and Peter help classrooms connect on a global scale as the puppets travel the world. Read more about Heidi and Peter here.
ePals
ePals is a site that teachers can use to find pen pals in other countries for students ages 3-19. When searching on the ePals site, teachers can use filters, such as country, students' age, language for communication, subjects, interests, grade level, and specialization (e.g. ESL, special education, early childhood). This site could be used for collaborative projects or for simply finding a pen pal for each student in a class.
Postcard Pen Pals
Postcard Pen Pals is an alternative to ePals. Read about Postcard Pen Pals here. To get started:
Add your class and school address to the mailing list
Buy postcards and print the address labels from the mailing list
Discuss with your class what will be the idea/central message of your postcard
Record all the details your class thinks are important and want to include
Type and print the postcard paragraph based on what the class discussion
Tape the paragraph and address to the postcard with clear packing tape
Mail
The Global Read Aloud
The Global Read Aloud is a global literacy project that started in 2010 and has continued to grow. To participate, teachers read aloud the same book chosen for the Global Read Aloud during a predetermined 6-week period. During that time frame, teachers make as many global connections as possible. According to the site, "Each teacher decides how much time they would like to dedicate and how involved they would like to be. Some people choose to connect with just one class, while others go for as many as possible. The scope and depth of the project is up to you. While there are official tools you can use such as Skype, Twitter, WriteAbout or Edmodo, you choose the tools that will make the most sense for you. Teachers get a community of other educators to do a global project with, hopefully inspiring them to continue these connections through the year."
Global Math Task Twitter Challenge
The Global Math Task Twitter Challenge (@globalmathtask)is a project you can join at any time during the school year. Twitter users follow the hashtag for their grade/age level and respond to tasks being shared out, e.g. #gmttc4 for 4th grade tasks. You find a task you’d like your students to solve and then share your solution using the same hashtag so that others can comment and connect to share as well.
Global Village Connect
Global Village Connectconnects classrooms and communities by developing practical solutions that improve health, education and economic opportunity through sustainable micro-enterprise. Most of their educational projects start with a pen pal program. Global Village Connect can connect you with a teacher or school director in a developing country and help get the ball rolling.
Global Education Conference
The Global Education Conference (GEC) is a free virtual conference that brings together like-minded global educators from around the world using the Blackboard Collaborate platform. The 8th annual conference is scheduled for Monday, November 13th through Wednesday, November 16th, 2017. Register on the GEC website to attend the next conference and to receive updates and conference news.
Description from the GEC website: "The Global Education Conference is a collaborative, inclusive, world-wide community initiative involving students, educators, and organizations at all levels. It is designed to significantly increase opportunities for building education-related connections around the globe while supporting cultural awareness and recognition of diversity."